Henrik Stenson got out of jail to beat Nick O’Hern on the final green and progress through to an intriguing semi-final tie against fellow European Tour Member Trevor Immelman in the World Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play.
Immelman was on fire in rolling in eight birdies to beat Justin Rose 5 and 4 at the Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain, a winning margin matched by defending champion Geoff Ogilvy in his victory over Paul Casey.
Ogilvy faces Chad Campbell in the other semi-final after the American held off Stephen Ames of Canada on the final green.
Stenson was behind most of the way round as O’Hern, despite the draining experience of beating Tiger Woods the previous day, kept his nose in front. Stenson got back to one up with birdies on the ninth, tenth and 11th but was immediately pegged back to all square the following hole.
A poor shot on the 13th and three putts cost Stenson the 13th but the Swede levelled the tie with a birdie on the 15th. But three putts on the 16th left him facing down the barrel with two holes to play.
He looked to be in more trouble on the 17th when he found sand and, despite a good recovery, missed his birdie chance but O’Hern also missed his par.
The drama continued onto the 18th as Stenson pulled his drive into the cacti and had to take a penalty drop. But from there he played a remarkable recovery with his wedge to two feet to save his par. O’Hern came up short of the green, chipped to four feet but in contrast to the third round when he was saved by Woods missing a four footer, that length putt cost him dear in the quarter-finals as the ball slid by and Stenson was through.
“Unbelievable,” said Stenson immediately afterwards. “I have never experienced anything like it, not when I come out on top at least. We both played well and it was a good match. It just shows you never give up.”
It was a tough way for O’Hern to bow out of the competition having performed so well throughout the week.
“I’m absolutely shattered,” said the left-hander. “It’s a pretty disappointing way to finish. I played lovely today. It is just one of those things where you take it on the chin and move on.”
Rose also had to take it on the chin, coming up against an inspired Immelman. While the Englishman made four birdies, he had no answer to Immelman’s eight under par through 14 holes.
“That’s what match play is all about,” he said. “Trevor played very, very well today. He changed his putter and it was obviously a good decision. Birdies are tough to beat any day.”
Despite losing, it was still a good week for Rose as he proved he is ready to eat at golf’s top table.
“It’s been a great week on many levels,” he said. “If it was strokeplay, I would have played some of the best golf of anybody these first three days. Sometimes you run up against a guy who’s hot, and that’s match play.”
Immelman was quick to admit that his putting was the difference.
“The thing that happened today that hasn’t been happening the last three or four months is that I holed some putts,” he said. “It’s all very well and good hitting good shots but if you don’t hole the putts it doesn’t mean anything. It was nice for me today to convert those opportunities.”
Casey certainly wasn’t at his best as he went down to the Ogilvy mixing four birdies with four bogeys to fall at the Quarter Final stage.
“I didn’t play the golf I wanted to and gave him way too many holes,” he said. “Every match here is going to be tough and could go either way. And if you play poor golf you are likely to get beaten, and that’s especially true when you reach the Quarter Final and get to play Geoff Ogilvy.”
Ogivly paid tribute to Casey as he moved on to face Campbell in the Semi Final.
“I definitely got fortunate that he wasn’t at his best,” he said. “He’s obviously a great player, World Match Play Champion at the HSBC, so it was going to be a tough match. I was lucky he hit a couple of loose tee shots and every time I had a key putt, I made it.”
Campbell continued his march through another round and was ahead for most of the day, holding off Ames on the final green.
